Enchanting 'Queen' begs for swirl of action onstage

By Hedy WeissTheater Critic,
Chicago Sun-Times
December 13, 2006

Roll over Hans Christian Andersen, and let Michael Smith tell you the news.
He'll do it by way of "The Snow Queen," which received its world premiere
Monday night at Victory Gardens Theater's lovely new Biograph home.

Smith, the veteran Chicago folkie, has a lush, wide-ranging musical palette,
a savvy balladeer's feel for a story and an ironist's edge to his lyrics;
his clever way with words could give Stephen Sondheim a run for his ski
boots. For Andersen's strange, Arctic-iced fairy-tale odyssey, he has
penned nearly two dozen enchanted and enchanting songs, including the
unforgettable "Love Letter on a Fish" (a surefire hit, worthy of a golden
herring) and "The Princess and Memory" (an instant chick-lit classic).

On innocence and experience

With the help of a slew of terrific onstage musicians (the composer among
them), a trio of actors and a contingent of remarkable puppets designed by
Blair Thomas, he has transformed this spiritual and emotional coming-of-age
voyage into a sly, hip yet still fantastical meditation on innocence,
experience and the hard work required for love.

So what is missing in this show that begins on the rooftops of Denmark and
snow-blows itself into the most remote reaches of Lapland? Animation. No, not
the high-tech variety, but the kind that can be supplied by a director or
choreographer who knows how to set the stage into a swirl of motion.

Frank Galati (who came to this project on the heels of staging "The Pirate
Queen") has approached the piece as if it were an oratorio or a library
storytelling session. The result is a surprisingly static show -- one that
cries out (especially in the first act) for far more ingenious physicality
in the actors and larger-than-life, human-manipulated puppets, as well as
for a more kinetic set.

After all, "The Snow Queen" is a story that moves through the seasons and
the skies, as Gerda (a charmingly understated Mattie Hawkinson, whose
singing voice has a beguiling catch) travels far and wide to rescue her
childhood friend, Kai (Andrew Keltz). The boy has been wounded in the heart
and eye by shards of glass from the devils' mirror (a crucial, cataclysmic
event in need of greatly enhanced stagecraft). And now, seeing all that
is good as evil, he is lured away to the Snow Queen's castle.

As it stands now, the real North Star of "The Snow Queen" is the score, full
of colloquialisms, icicle-sharp humor and the rueful wit that makes this
show best suited for adults and more sophisticated children. Its nearly two
dozen songs are ready to be recorded at this very moment, with Smith backed
at every turn by the marvelously droll Kat Eggleston, the ever-beguiling Walz,
the spicy Linda M. Smith and the richly moody Barbara Barrow -- all of whom
are terrific vocalists and fine instrumentalists. (Anthony Shepherdstone
sticks to his drums and percussion.) And once this show is literally set in
motion, there should be no stopping it.